Keepers on Parade
Keepers on Parade is an art project established in 2015 to promote Wichita pride with 10-foot tall, hand-painted replicas of the city's iconic Keeper of the Plains statue. Keepers on Parade was started by Together Wichita and continued by the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce in 2022 as part of the organization's quality-of-place initiative.
Currently, there more than 80 fiberglass Keeper statues on display throughout Wichita. Each is unique and painted by a local artist with the approval of the Blackbear Bosin Family Foundation, who owns the rights to the original Keeper of The Plains statue. Local artists are commissioned to transform the blank fiberglass Keepers in collaboration with community partners, who sponsor the individual pieces.
Take a trip across Wichita with our interactive map.
You can purchase, sponsor or apply to be a Keeper artist below. For more information, contact Scott Elpers, Vice President of Marketing & Communications.
The Keeper of the Plains sculpture by Kiowa artist Blackbear Bosin stands at the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas Rivers in the heart of Wichita, a gathering place for Native American tribes before white settlement. It is a sculpture familiar to Wichitans, and with permission and oversight by the Blackbear Bosin Family Foundation, the symbolic basis for Keepers on Parade.
Keeper Guidelines
Artists are matched with commissioned sponsors for each Keeper on Parade. Artists work directly with the company, organization or patron commissioning the artwork to develop a theme and design. All designs must be approved by the Blackbear Bosin Family Foundation to ensure it complies with the foundation's ideals. Designs must be painted onto the fiberglass form and should not include logos or direct branding, foul language, inappropriate imagery or additional items affixed to the statue.
Keepers must be painted in an indoor space. Each Keeper is 10 feet tall with a 30-inch by 30-inch square base. Keepers weigh roughly 75 pounds, but will require more than one person to move. Keepers can be worked on vertically or horizontally as long as artists have the space and tools to care for the statue. Once complete, the Keeper is sealed with a protective coating and installed. A plaque recognizing the artist is affixed to the statue. The Chamber provides a $1,500 stipend to the artist to offset the cost of painting supplies.
Keeper 150 Project
In 2020, Wichita celebrated 150 years with 12 Keepers designed by local artists. The artists were selected from a pool of nearly 60 applicants, with their works placed in public parks throughout Wichita. Take a guided audio tour of the Keeper 150 sculpture project or watch the documentary below.
